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Police briefs 8/24/17

Patricia Turner

Robert Coleman

Xavier Murchison

Cameron Rushing

Archtrezs Frazier

Jonetta McClain

Debra Simmons

Jamal Youman

Alexander Grandsko

Richard Reed

Posted
Wednesday, August 23, 2017 12:45 pm

Clay County Sheriff's Office

Palatka couple charged with metal theft

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Two Palatka residents are being charged with grand theft after allegedly stealing construction materials from a roadway project in Clay County.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Patricia Marie Turner, 44, and Robert Eugene Coleman Jr., 56, Aug. 24 after they were identified by a witness to have stolen 60 steel beams from the First Coast Expressway construction site off Challenger Drive in Oakleaf.

According to the report, Turner and Coleman drove a pickup truck into a construction site, loaded 60 steel beams used for creating guard rails into the truck and returned the materials to their home in Palatka. The beams were valued at around $10,800 in total. According to the arrest warrant, a witness saw the pair stealing the metal on Aug. 10 and contacted the site supervisor who then contacted police. A photo of the suspects in the truck was shown to Palatka Police officers who recognized them as Turner and Coleman. The two were arrested and a search warrant was issued which resulted in the retrieval of the 60 stolen beams from their property. Turner and Coleman were then transported to Clay County Jail.

Both suspects face two felonies for the theft, one for grand theft of items valued between $10,000 and $19,999, and one for trespassing on a legally posted construction site. Turner is held on about $100,000 bond and Coleman is being held on $20,000.

Facebook death threat ends in arrestFLEMING ISLAND – Bond is set at $25,003 for a homeless man accused of threatening to kill a Fleming Island man last Friday.The Clay County Sheriff’s Office charged Xavier Quayshawn Murchison, 23, with one count of writing threats to kill or do bodily injury to another on Aug. 18 at 11 p.m. after an investigation.According to the police report, Murchison posted a message on Facebook stating he was going to shoot the man “with a firearm,” states the police report.Police said the victim was outside mowing his lawn when Murchison walked on to his property. The victim told police he knew Murchison because Murchison had been in a relationship with his daughter and “did not want the defendant on his property.”Police said after Murchison arrived on the property, the victim, the victim’s son and Murchison got into a verbal argument, but the victim “separated himself by walking back inside his own garage” to get a beer. While he was in the garage, shots were fired outside his home, where he went outside and saw Murchison walking away.At press time, Murchison remained in the Clay County Jail.

Fleming Island teen in Jax crashJACKSONVILLE – The Florida Highway Patrol reports that charges are pending in connection with a vehicle crash that occurred Aug. 19.Police said Sadie Jane Murdock, 18, of Fleming Island, was driving a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle southbound in the left lane on Interstate 295 near Baymeadows Road when the crashed occurred at 1:50 a.m.According to the FHP press release, Murdock’s Volkswagen entered into the right lane and traveled onto the shoulder and collided with a tractor-trailer and its driver who was standing outside of the truck near the rear of the trailer, police said, for reasons unknown.The truck driver, Juan J. Morey, 34, of Kissimmee, Fla., was seriously injured upon impact and was transported to Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville for treatment.The Volkswagen ended up in the southbound left lane of I-295.

19-year-old faces child porn chargesLAKE ASBURY – A 19-year-old Lake Asbury resident is out of the Clay County Jail on bond following his arrest on two counts of child pornography possession.The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Cameron Matthaus Rushing on Aug. 18 at 10:42 a.m. after conducting an investigation that began in early June.According to the police report, the investigation began June 9 and involved an internet file-sharing system, “which was identified as being a file of investigative interest to child pornography investigations.”Police said Rushing used torrent files to share child pornography that he already owned or that he had acquired. In total, the CCSO downloaded 70 files of child pornography from Rushing’s computer on June 9 and June 17.

4 charged in dealing stolen property schemeGREEN COVE SPRINGS – What began as the theft of $359.73 worth of numerous drills and other tools on Aug. 18 in Jacksonville, ended later that day in 4 arrests.The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Archtrezs Jaquel Frazier, 19, Jonetta Dorneak Lavasha McClain, 19, Debra Quannisha Simmons, 18, and Jamal Rashad Youman, 20, all of Jacksonville, on Aug. 18 for two counts each of dealing stolen property after spending the morning backtracking and conducting an investigation.According to the police report, the crime spree began at 11 a.m. at the Walmart store at 7075 Collins Rd. in Jacksonville where the tools were stolen. A store official told CCSO that “two black males and two females all selected numerous drills and tools and placed them inside [redacted] a bin that was inside a shopping cart,” states the police report.The store manager told police that the two women exited the store while Frazier attempted to distract the store greeter. With the greeter districted, Youman pushed the shopping cart containing the stolen goods past all of the cash registers and outside of the store without paying.After leaving the store on Collins Road with the stolen goods, the four got into a car and traveled to the Walmart store at 899 Blanding Blvd. near Orange Park. At the store, they attempted to return the tools in order to obtain cash, which Walmart store officials rejected and, then reported the incident to CCSO. With the unsuccessful tool return, the four traveled to the Walmart on County Road 200 on Fleming Island attempting to carry out yet a second fraudulent return there. At 2:14 p.m., Fleming Island Walmart officials called CCSO about the incident.By this time, a lookout had been posted for the gold Chrysler Sebring in which they were traveling.At 2:23 p.m., the car was stopped in the 2300 block of Park Avenue in Orange Park heading northbound. A search of the car’s trunk uncovered the stolen tools and different clothing items, police said, “appeared to be new.”At press time, Youman is the only one of the four who remains in jail. His bond is set at $5,006.

Passenger dies in Amtrak, vehicle crashGREEN COVE SPRINGS – The Florida Highway Patrol reports that one man is dead after an Amtrak train collided with a truck Thursday evening at a railroad crossing in Green Cove Springs.Police said Caleb Ralph Osborne, 38, of Middleburg was a passenger in a Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck when the crash occurred at 6:25 p.m. on Aug. 17 at the crossing at Cooks Lane, just west of U.S. Highway 17/South Orange Avenue.The driver of the Chevy, Richard D. Tillman, 41, of Middleburg, was transported to Orange Park Medical Center where he was last listed in critical condition. FHP said Tillman was heading eastbound on Green Cove Avenue when he crossed the path of the northbound train. The front of the train then slammed into the side of the truck causing the truck to land on the west shoulder of the railroad tracks.Osborne was pronounced dead at the scene. FHP said charges are pending.

2nd arrest made in recent assault, drug dealGREEN COVE SPRINGS – Authorities have charged a second man for his alleged involvement in a drug deal that ended in assault and a trip to a local emergency room.The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Alexander Vincent Grandsko, 23, of Oakleaf, on Aug. 16 at 10:39 a.m. and charged him with armed robbery with a deadly weapon other than a firearm and aggravated battery.According to the warrant, the victim met Grandsko and Cody Allen Dales, 19, of Middleburg, on Aug. 5 at the 7 Eleven store on County Road 220 in Middleburg to buy some marijuana. The victim told police that when he came upon Grandsko and Dales, they jumped him and he was “struck in the head and face with what appeared to be a metal object,” states the warrant.Grandsko and Dales, the victim said, got away with $200 in cash from the man and also stole his cell phone.CCSO officers interviewed the victim at the Baptist Clay emergency room on Fleming Island where he “received several staples in the back of his skull to close up a substantial laceration that he received during the attack.”Police arrested Dales on Aug. 14 and charged him with armed robbery with a deadly weapon other than a firearm and set his bond at $50,0003. Grandsko’s bond is set at $125,006. At press time, both remained in the Clay County Jail.

OP area man facing drug chargesORANGE PARK – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team was called to an Orange Park area apartment complex last week to make a drug arrest.Police arrested Richard Channier J. Reed, 27, on Aug. 16 using an arrest warrant they obtained after an investigation involving a confidential informant.According to the arrest report, the informant went to Reed’s apartment on Crossing Boulevard on Aug. 2 attempting to buy $100 worth of heroin. Police said the informant bought three bags “containing a powered substance for $60,” states the CCSO report. A field test of the substance proved the drug to be four-tenths of a gram of fentanyl. While apprehending Reed, police found different amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana they seized in the arrest.Reed faces one count each of possession of heroin with intent to sale, cocaine possession, possession of not more than 20 g. cannabis, sale & delivery of fentanyl, sale of heroin.He was booked into the Clay County Jail and his bond was set at $261,014.

Sheriff’s Office asks community for helpGREEN COVE SPRINGS – Detectives with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office are looking for two men who were captured on video leaving the Target store on Fleming Island with items they did not pay for.Police said the two men were captured on video on two different dates – July 3 and 16. The suspects are believed to have stolen Nest Thermostats, a Nest Cam, several Beats headphones, a clothesbasket and a cooler. According to police, the men hid the goods in the basket and the cooler and then walked out of the store.After both incidents, the men drove off in a four-door white Chevrolet sedan.Residents with any information about the suspects are asked to call the Clay County Sheriff’s Office at (904) 264-6512.